Nature
Whether you are new to Herm Island or have been coming here for many years, there are some things which will never change: the gentle lapping of the waves against the harbour rocks, the breathtaking views that make you stop and take it all in, and the feeling of well-being and peace you have when you step off the island onto the boat back to Guernsey.
Seasons on Herm
Bird Life
If you are an expert bird watcher or are just beginning, Herm Island will provide you with a variety of bird watching at all seasons of the year. Because Herm Island is an island, you will find here a complete contrast to your local bird watching. Almost 100 different species of bird are regularly seen on Herm Island.
Inland
During spring migrants from Southern Europe and Africa join resident birds to feed – from Herm Island they will fly north to the UK and Scandinavia. Residents range from the kestrel, the most common bird of prey, to rarer long-eared owls. They breed on the island, feeding on mice and shrews. House Martins, Swallows and Swifts can all be found on the island and the cuckoo calls from May onwards. Meadow pipits are often seen flying over the common.
The gorse bushes provide perfect perches for migrant whinchat, chiff-chaff and willow warblers. Robins, wrens, dunnocks, blackbird and song thrushes all breed here. In winter numbers are swelled by visitors from Europe. The redwing and fieldfare visit from Scandinavia.
Around the coast
The Bailiwick of Guernsey, of which Herm Island is part, is an important site for the turnstone. In winter it is joined by the curlew. The black and white oyster-catcher with its bright orange bill and distinctive cry can be seen on beaches at the water’s edge.
Between October and April around 60 Brent geese visit, flying in from the Arctic Coast of Siberia. Puffins are here every spring, although their numbers are declining. You may be surprised just how small they are.
Their cousins in the auk family, the guillemot and razor-bill can also be seen. Common terns flying in from south and west Africa nest on islets. The mewing of the herring gull can be heard all year round, joining the lesser and great black backed gulls, as well as black headed gulls. Shags, cormorants and fulmar petrels all breed here and nest around the cliffs and coast. In Autumn birds are on the move again, with flocks of plovers, sanderlings, knot and godwits frequently flying in.
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Plant Life
From early springtime onwards the large variety of wildflowers on Herm Island flourish in an ideal environment completely undisturbed by the march of time.
To the north of the island and almost carpeting the heathland the Burnet Rose is well established. This is a sprawling shrub but reduced no doubt, by rabbits which nibble the young shoots. The creamy blossoms appear in June and have a delicate fragrance. Rush and Marram Grass flourish in the sand dunes, but the attractive Sea Holly, with its silver-green leaves and bright blue thistle-like flowers, as well as the Yellow Horned Poppy, are in danger of elimination.
The southern cliffs of Herm Island are home to the various Heathers, Stonecrop, Seapinks, and Rock Samphire all of which are found growing in natural terraces that have been worn away by the winter gales.
If you climb the wooded drive towards the church and which is flanked by giant Cypreses, Pines and Eucalyptus trees, you will no doubt see the many beautiful ferns and the following plants can also be found…Periwinkle, Woodspurge, Red Broomrape and Ivy Broomrape, Red Campion. Lords and Ladies, Ramsons, Foxglove, Rose of Sharon, Purple Toadflax, Triangular stalked Garlic, also the Gladdon (Iris family) with its impressive seed pods of red/orange in the autumn.
These are but a few of the wild flowers to be found in an afternoon’s ramble, and who knows, you might find something unexpected like….the Star of Bethlehem.
